Buses to trial new pre-paid systems

The first pre-paid Smartcards are set to be introduced on National Express West Midlands buses as part of a trial being launched this month.

The new £20 million system will allow passengers to 'top up' their fares before they travel, similar to the Oyster card system used in London.

The first trials of the Smartcard technology are currently under way in the region on some Silverline and Central buses, including the 679 Wednesbury to Yew Tree Estate via Friar Park system and the 118 Fort Shopping Park to Aldridge via Kingstanding.

But trials are set to be rolled out to routes operated by National Express West Midlands, the region's biggest bus operator, by the end of January.

The first of its fleet to get the swipe card technology will be in the Yardley area of Birmingham. If successful it would pave the way for the scheme to go live across the region's 2,500 buses later in the year.

Centro spokeswoman Babs Coombes said the trial was already going well on the Central and Silverline buses since coming in at the end of November.

"We are seeing how that goes at the moment and we are now looking to put the machines in the first National Express buses in the Birmingham area," she said. "The trials are going well but we want to make sure we get it right."

She said there was no specific date for the general roll-out of the scheme as it depended on how the trials went.

The new concessionary passes issued to pensioners all contain a chip to make them Smartcard-enabled and are being used in trials.